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Talk:Submarine snorkel
Well, here's our mysterious weapon. I'd completely forgotten that scene. Then again, the number of scenes I have even a broad recollection of can be counted on one hand. TR 15:30, April 22, 2010 (UTC) :Now I remember . . . sort of. I don't remember the thing about it looking like a cock, which you'd think would be memorable. :But is this thing really that new? I could have sworn that even the Hunley had one. They couldn't get it to work, but it still existed. :I don't know why HT would want U-30 able to stay submerged longer. Scenes told by a submerged submariner are so monotonous that even HW didn't contain more than one or two quick ones. :And finally, flogging my own brain for details, I can vaguely recall two or three scenes per most of the POVs I can think of, less for the Spanish CW people and the French soldier (or was it soldiers--I can't even remember how many there were. I remember one Brit and one Czech, both infantrymen. I think I remember a French infantrymen--ooh, that kind of diversity will help me keep all these fools straight--the German pilot, the German tanker. . . . I think that was it for the Western Front, but the fact that I think it must mean less than nothing.) The Soviet pilot I just remember being grounded in the mud, listening to the news, watching the Armenians speak somewhat freely and being concerned. That might have been one, two, or three scenes. I think I actually remember Peggy Druce best of anyone. But most scenes that I have vague recollections of I remember only for some unusual tidbit that happened in them, like the one where McGill's hanging out in the club and one of his buddies teaches him Mandarin obscenities to the horror and disgust of the tapman. Turtle Fan 16:15, April 22, 2010 (UTC) ::Well, my memory isn't so bad, as I do remember many of those same scenes. I'd truthfully forgotten that there was a German infantryman. We have a German submariner, German pilot, German tanker, German-Jewish civilian, and an American in Germany. The German infantryman must have been crowded right out. (This leaves me rather horrified by the thought of Fugitive Brother being another infantry POV.) The Frenchman I remember because of that forced joke about De Gaulle being two fishing poles. The Czech stuck out, mainly because he's one of the first POVs. The Brit stuck out mainly because he's Welsh. My memories of the Soviet pilot are about the same. The Japanese solider froze a bunch and then became relevant in the last 50 pages or so of the book. :::German infantryman . . . still not ringing any bells. It makes sense that there would be one, at least by HW's definigion of sense, if there is such a thing. :::That idiotic two fishing poles joke. I remember it most of the time, though I'd forgotten for the moment while I was doing the rundown. :::The Brit cracked a small joke or two. Nothing to write home about normally, but it certainly stood out among the tedium of the rest of the book. :::The Czech I remembered because he'd travelled around a bit. Again, in this book that was about as close to excitement as could possibly be had. :::The Japanese soldier I liked because he gave us the chance to write some more shit on Mongolia and Manchukuo. Puyi is one of only two non-European historical monarchs we have, and Choibalsan diversifies our dictators a bit. Actually that was one thing HW was good for: letting us write about lesser light strongmen like Choibalsan, Rydz-Smigly, Antonescu, Horthy. ::Huh, weird, but, looking back, Druce's scenes, McGill's scenes, and Weinberg's scenes I remember most clearly. I don't know if that's because we complain about them so much, or if they were legitimately different enough that the stuck with me. TR 16:33, April 22, 2010 (UTC) :::The three Americans. I find the same with Peggy and McGill. They each did--well, nothing or very close to it. However, their inaction played out against a background that was at least a break from combat zones. So too did Jewish Girl, though I really don't remember all that much about her despite the fact that she had been the character I was most excited about when we started getting spoilers, and I still feel she's got the best shot of any of them of developing a more interesting character arc. :Weinberg was just more combat scenes interspersed with bitching and moaning about how everyone had forgotten about Spain. I was annoyed by him for several reasons. One was that his presence reminded me of how it never did become clear why HT had this second POD going, and it also reminded me that he had a second POD. Bad form. Also, with all the characters giving us glimpses behind the curtains of totalitarianism, it's hard not to want to smack an American who's been spared all the brainwashing and doublespeak and outright coercion, and has nonetheless freely chosen ideological blinders and arrived at the conclusion that he'd like to give Stalin--''Stalin!''--a lap dance anyway. Maybe before this series meanders to a close it would be fitting if he somehow wound up in a gulag. Turtle Fan 17:17, April 22, 2010 (UTC) : :It is surprising that a much earlier submarine snorkel seems to have been ignored by most sources. This was the one designed by James Richardson, Assistant Manager of Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co of Greenock, Scotland, q.v. They were granted British Patent No. 106330 of 21 May 1917, i.e. during World War I. That it was not pursued undoubtedly is due to the British Admiralty not showing interest.